A pathetic and (imo) desperate attempt to shift the focus off their increasingly bad publicity.

I agree this seems the most likely explanation - still a sign of pressure though. I try to keep in mind that because we are only observers and the Mcc's are players they may well already know what is coming next....

Yes, definitely a sign of pressure.....

All the publicity private trips in the world won't help them, not once their toxic facade begins to unravel.

So why during the cosy chat with Lorraine Kelly, did KM not tell her she was flying out to PDL? Was it a spur of the moment decision..... Amazing how this story appears the day after the Express headline, just another one of those coincidences I expect.

I bet her ticket was not booked even weeks ago, let alone months in preparation for her May visit. Something has caused this visit, the visit is the reaction. As has been said why does she feel close to her here, it wasn't a family holiday with lots of togetherness times. it was a week of dumping the children in the two creches whilst they, the parents, did their own things.Something is afoot imo.

@Nina wrote:I bet her ticket was not booked even weeks ago, let alone months in preparation for her May visit. Something has caused this visit, the visit is the reaction. As has been said why does she feel close to her here, it wasn't a family holiday with lots of togetherness times. it was a week of dumping the children in the two creches whilst they, the parents, did their own things.Something is afoot imo.

I feel this was a spur of the moment trip and i bet its something to do with Robert murat,i know in the book she wanted to kill him,hope he keeps out of her way.

@Nina wrote:I bet her ticket was not booked even weeks ago, let alone months in preparation for her May visit. Something has caused this visit, the visit is the reaction. As has been said why does she feel close to her here, it wasn't a family holiday with lots of togetherness times. it was a week of dumping the children in the two creches whilst they, the parents, did their own things.Something is afoot imo.

I feel this was a spur of the moment trip and i bet its something to do with Robert murat,i know in the book she wanted to kill him,hope he keeps out of her way.

I agree Tiny, very spur of the moment, in fact within the last 48 hours. But of course we will never know. we will be fed spin saying it was planned weeks/months ago. never been mentioned though until today. And the news has been Murat and their grief/guilt wracked faces.

In a case like this and after 6 years the question above becomes relevant. Most stories die after a few weeks. Something may happen to revive it but in general people get bored with it.The only reason that we still have stories in the press is that the McCanns make sure we do.

Hence a visit which will once again ensure the brand image continues.

____________________A lie can go round the world before the truth gets it's boots on.

I dont believe in Kate making trips here without publicity,everyone knows who she is,Imo impossible to get unnoticed.

____________________"My advice to any British tourist ,please come to Portugal,please come to the Algarve but if you're coming as a family holiday treat it as a family holiday and do things together, don't leave the kids"Words from an ExPat Algarve resident

@Portia wrote:In such a high profile murderabductioncase situation, one would assume a suspectarguida grieving mother to be followed by one or more photograpghers, journalists, plain clothes policemen if only to see where exactly the lady would go in order to feel closest to the victim.

candyfloss wrote:So why during the cosy chat with Lorraine Kelly, did KM not tell her she was flying out to PDL? Was it a spur of the moment decision..... Amazing how this story appears the day after the Express headline, just another one of those coincidences I expect.

@aiyoyo wrote:Likely there to meet her lawyer, Isabel Duarte. Amaral's trial must be coming up.

Good point.

Yes but they have known about this and she has gone alone. She is going for a reason and imo it isn't to be closer to Madeleine. She is closer to Madeleine at home in Rothley, sat in her bedroom with all her clothes and toys and bed. Certainly not in PdL where Madeleine spent most of her 24 hour day in creche or alone in bed, if we are to believe the creche records and the child checking timelines. So nothing of a special family holiday for her to feel close to.

Personally I doubt that she is even there; no photos to prove it, just an old one regurgitated. I also don't believe that the family went back to Donegal a year or so ago; that's assuming they were even there in 2007!

candyfloss wrote:Gerry McCann not accompanying her by the looks of it. It's all about Kate.

Probably gerry cant get time off work and she's left to go alone. I bet her presence is required at the lawyer's office.

Possibly one of them is required to be there in order to sign the odd document? You can be sure she's not on her own, trusty UK lawyers will be at her side imo.

The lonely trip of Kate to the-country-where-she-lost-her-beautiful-child is for the headlines only.

Tigger, be careful ! Kate did not loose her daughter, she was taken from her by a bad man. You could get yourself in trouble making statements like that.

I do not understand how she feels closer to her in PDL. She was there just a matter of days, and there are few, if any, special family memories of the trip ever mentioned or written about. How could that surpass memories from home. There would be a certain attachment to PDL but surely it is not the most important place on earth from a memory point of view.

Off topic but I have long wondered where is the good looking lawyer gone, the one who was present at their arguido questioning ? Much more pleasing to the eye than their current representatives, but surely has a mind field of knowledge. I hope he has not been whooshed.

You mean d'Aubreu (probl not the right spelling) - one of my favourite photographs is where she's just been made arguido and he's looking at her with some amusement in his face. He's certainly better looking than the poison dwarf in Lisbon.

@Portia wrote:In such a high profile murderabductioncase situation, one would assume a suspectarguida grieving mother to be followed by one or more photograpghers, journalists, plain clothes policemen if only to see where exactly the lady would go in order to feel closest to the victim.

So KM still has a lot of friends in PDL, including Portuguese. Certainly not the Hubbards who are now departed. Can't beat a private visit for quiet reflection announced in as many newspapers as will print it. Paying a visit there next month so extremely relieved she and any associated hacks will be long gone by them.

@Monty Heck wrote:So KM still has a lot of friends in PDL, including Portuguese. Certainly not the Hubbards who are now departed. Can't beat a private visit for quiet reflection announced in as many newspapers as will print it. Paying a visit there next month so extremely relieved she and any associated hacks will be long gone by them.

Rev Hubbard has flown over for the anniversay Monty, he will be there - see here.........

Eddie and Keela alerted to items and places concerned with the McCanns - and importantly to no other items or places.

According to Eddie and Keela, the body of Madeleine McCann lay lifeless behind the sofa in Apartment 5a, clinging to the only thing from which she could derive any comfort; a soft toy called 'Cuddle cat'.

Kate's book 'madeleine', Page 219: "Did they really believe that a dog could smell the 'odour of death' three months later from a body that had been so swiftly removed?"

After forensic analysis of the 'Last Photo' there is little doubt now that the pool photo CANNOT POSSIBLY have been taken on the Thursday 3rd May, but most likely on the Sunday 29th April. So, where was Madeleine at lunchtime on Thursday?

John McCann:"This was terrible for them, Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas and the baby said: "Maddy's jammies, where is Maddy?"Martin Roberts:"If Madeleine's pyjamas had not, in fact, been abducted then neither had Madeleine McCann."Dr Martin Roberts: A Nightwear Job

Death Toll in McCann Case

Gerry McCann called for an example to be made of 'trolls'. SKY reporter Martin Brunt doorstepped Brenda Leyland on 2 October 2014 after a 'Dossier' was handed in to Police by McCann supporters. She was then found dead in a Leicester hotel room the next day. Brenda paid the price.

Colin Shalke died suddenly in mysterious circumstances with a significant amount of morphine in his system. At the Inquest the coroner said there was no evidence as to how he had come to take morphine, and no needle mark was found.

Ex-Met DCI Andy Redwood had a "revelation moment" on BBC1's Crimewatch on 14th October 2013 when he announced that Operation Grange had eliminated the Tanner sighting - which opened up the 'window' of opportunity' from 3 mins to 45 mins, in accordance with their remit, to allow the staged abduction to happen.

Tracey Kandohla: "A McCann pal told The Sun Online: "Some of the savings have been siphoned off from the Find Maddie Fund into a fixed asset account, which financial experts have advised them to do. It can be used for purchases like buying a house or building equipment."

The McCanns, Operation Grange and the BBC are all working towards one goal - to make us keep looking at what happened (or didn't happen) on 3rd May, instead of looking at what happened days earlier. There is NO evidence of an abduction. Smithman is ALL they have got. Without that, they are sunk. No wonder Operation Grange clings on to Smithman...

Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM, retired Met Commissioner: "There will be a point at which we and the Government will want to make a decision about what the likely outcome is."

Dr Gonçalo Amaral, retired PJ Coordinator: "The English can always present the conclusions to which they themselves arrived in 2007. Because they know, they have the evidence of what happened, they don't need to investigate anything. When MI5 opens their files, then we will know the truth."